The number of women in the movie biz remains far below parity. One of the organizations that has been especially thoughtful about what’s oncreen but also who’s making movies is the Alliance of Women Film Journalists (of which I’m a too-lax member).

Each year, the AWFJ hands out awards. There are the traditional kudos, natch: Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Director, etc. But then there are a few more cheeky nods that make the New York-based organization’s awards a smart, often pointed treat. Check out AWFJ site for the full list of nominees.

Best Breakthrough Performance
Jessica Chastain as Mrs. O’Brien in Tree of Life
Elizabeth Olsen as Martha, Marcy May and Marlene in Martha Marcy May Marlene
Adepero Oduye as Alike in Pariah
Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Shailene Woodley as Alexandra King in The Descendants

Female Icon Award (This award is presented only in years when it is warranted)

Glenn Close as Albert Nobbs in Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis as Abileen Clark in The Help
Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady

Actress Defying Age and Ageism

Glenn Close as Albert Nobbs in Albert Nobbs
Judi Dench as Anna Marie Hoover in J. Edgar Hoover
Helen Mirren as Rachel Singer in The Debt
Vanessa Redgrave as Volumnia in Coriolanus
Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady

This Year’s Outstanding Achievement By A Woman In The Film Industry (This award is presented only in years when it is warranted)

AWFJ Award Humanitarian Activism
Sandra Bullock for tsunami relief
Elaine Hendrix for Animal Rescue Corps and In Defense of Animals
Angelina Jolie for UN work and making In The Land of Milk and Blood to raise awareness about genocide.
Elizabeth Taylor for her work with AIDS
Olivia Wilde for relief work in Haiti

AWFJ Hall Of Shame Award
The Hollywood Reporter for failing to invite any women to join the Directors Roundtable
I Melt With You, production and cast
Jack and Jill, production and cast
Something Borrowed, production and cast
Sucker Punch, production and cast

Actress Most in Need Of A New Agent
Jennifer Aniston
Kate Hudson
Sarah Jessica Parker
Amanda Seyfried
All actresses in New Year’s Eve

Movie You Wanted To Love But Just Couldn’t:
Drive
The Future
Sucker Punch
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Young Adult

Unforgettable Moment Award:
The Artist – The sound of glass clinking on the table
Drive – The elevator scene
Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Lisbeth’s revenge
The Help – The pie scene
Shame – Carey Mulligan singing New York, New York

Film & theater critic Lisa Kennedy likes to watch -- a lot. She also has a fondness for no-man’s lands, contested territories and Venn Diagrams. She believes the best place to live is usually on the border between two vibrant neighborhoods. Where better to apply this penchant for overlap and divergence than covering film and theater – two arts that owe so much to each other yet offer radically idiosyncratic pleasures? In another life, Kennedy was an Obie judge. In this one, she’s been a Pulitzer Prize judge in criticism, an Independent Spirit Award jurist and Colorado’s first member of the National Society of Film Critics.

More than a mash-up of the Running Lines and Diary of a Madmoviergoer blogs, Stage, Screen & In Between offers engaged takes on Colorado theater and film and pointed views on news from both coasts and both industries. Culture lovers, add your voices. Culture-makers, share your production journal entries and photos.